


It Takes Time, Lin

by MusicPlayer81



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Lin had never prepared to be a mother, she doesn't want to make a mistake, she needs a hug desperately, the fact that she is one terrifies her
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:34:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27115468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicPlayer81/pseuds/MusicPlayer81
Summary: “No, don’t “Lin” me, Ketsana!” Lin angrily wiped away the tears that were running down her cheeks. “I didn’t know there were different cries! I’m her mother, I should know these things—““Chen is only a month old, Lin,” Ketsana said quietly.Also known as, Lin is panicking about motherhood. Her friend and healer is there to help her put things into perspective.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	It Takes Time, Lin

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all! I've always wondered how Lin would start to navigate motherhood if she had ever had a child, and so this is my take on it. It incorporates two of my OCs, her family healer Ketsana and her daughter Chen Beifong. They can both be found in my AU, which I have dubbed the Chenverse. Reading the other stories involved, such as "A Study in Understanding," "Guess I'm Going with You," "A Conference for the Books," and more isn't necessary, but if you like this story definitely recommend you do so! Please read and review :)

At the sound of the first cry, Lin drew herself upright, stumbling across the wooden floors as her body willed itself awake. She felt along the walls until she found the right door, and pushed it open to see her daughter wailing in her crib, the bright moonlight highlighting her pinched face.

“Chen,” Lin cooed, rushing to scoop her into her arms. “I’m right here. I’ve got you. I’ve got you,cherry blossom.”

Chen’s faced reddened, and she cried even harder. Lin unswaddled her from her blanket (didn’t work), checked her diaper (didn’t need a changing), and rocked her (she cried louder, if that was even possible). With every avenue she checked, Lin found herself more and more panicked until she was on the verge of tears. “Please, _please_ tell me what you want. I don’t know what I’m doing but I’m _trying_ —“

“Try this?”

Lin looked up to find her healer and friend, Ketsana, in the doorway, her greying hair in a long braid down her back, her hands holding something. She groaned slightly, bouncing Chen in an another attempt to calm her. “Oh spirits, I’m so sorry, Ketsana, she won’t stop crying—“ she did a double take. “What’s in your hand?”

The healer entered the room and held the item up in the moonlight. It was a baby bottle filled with formula. “I think this might work. May I—“ she began to ask, gesturing to the baby in Lin’s arms.

Lin frantically nodded, and the metal bender carefully situated Chen into Ketsana’s arms. “Hi, Chen,” Ketsana whispered. She gave Chen the bottle, which the baby noisily sucked. The healer chucked. “Yeah, you like that, don’t you? Thought you would.”

“How did you know that would work?” Lin asked, awestruck as she took the now-empty bottle from her friend and set it on a nearby chest of drawers.  
  
“Babies have different cries for different needs,” Ketsana replied, gently bouncing Chen as she burped her. “And she’s such a happy baby. I figured after her crying didn’t let up that she might be hungry, and I was already up, so I fixed her a bottle. And now, here we are.”

Lin stilled, hugging her arms tight to herself. She hung her head. “Shit.” The healer noticed the slightest shake in Lin’s shoulders, and carefully put Chen down in her crib before rushing over to her friend. “Lin?” She asked, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

The metal bender tensed and twisted away from the touch. She looked up, her eyes watery. “I’m a terrible mother!”

“Lin—“

“No, don’t “Lin” me, Ketsana!” Lin angrily wiped away the tears that were running down her cheeks. “I didn’t know there were different cries! I’m her _mother_ , I should _know_ these things—“

“Chen is only a month old, Lin,” Ketsana said quietly.

Ah. There _was_ that.

“Still,” Lin muttered, looking away from Ketsana. “It shouldn’t matter.”

“It does, Lin,” Ketsana replied, both stern and comforting in the way an older sister would be. “Learning these things takes _time_.”

Lin took a shuddery breath. Ketsana reached out to comfort her but pulled her hand back, opting to reach into the crib and give Chen to her mother. Chen, close to being completely asleep, subconsciously moved closer to Lin. Lin’s arms tightened reflexively in turn.

“This still doesn’t feel real, you know,” Lin said softly, her eyes not lifting off her daughter. “None of this. None of this feels real.”

“In what way?” Ketsana asked cautiously. Did Lin need some talk therapy sessions? She’d fight her tooth and nail on that, that much she knew, but it couldn’t hurt—

“Not in a way that would concern you—as a healer, I mean,” Lin followed up hastily. She gestured for Ketsana to sit on a footstool, herself choosing to sit in its accompanying rocking chair. “It’s just—a year ago, Ketsana, I was in Republic City, living on Air Temple Island with my long-term boyfriend. Now I’m here, ensconced at the ancestral estate in Gaoling with my baby girl.” She gently traced Chen’s cheek with her finger. “My life feels foreign, even to me.”

“If I may?” Ketsana asked. Lin nodded her head. “I won’t act as if I’ve been in your position, because I haven’t been—at least, not exactly. But I will tell you this: motherhood is not a seamless transition. We may have had months beforehand to come to terms with it, sure, but nothing ever quite prepares you for the moment they place the baby in your arms, or for everything after. It’s not a switch you flip, Lin. Spirits know how much I struggled adjusting to motherhood. But it gets better—it’s like a river you learn how to navigate.”

“It does?” Lin asked, her eyes darting upward. Ketsana caught the flicker of curiosity, the drive to understand in her friend’s eyes. “How?”

“Well, there’s a lot of learning on the fly—the different cries, for example—and there’s a lot of mistakes made. A _lot._ That’s honestly the hardest part for me, knowing that even if I try my hardest there’s a good chance I’ll screw up.”

“If the sweetheart that is Keodara is what happens when you ‘screw up,’ then I think you’re doing something right,” Lin said, referring to her friend’s 13 year old daughter. She smiled softly. “I thought she was going to panic when you had her shadow Chen’s birth. But she was so good! She remained much calmer than I was. That’s the mark of a healer if I’ve ever seen one.”

Ketsana smiled, her eyes crinkling. “Lin, you were in labor for 20 hours. If anyone were allowed to lose it, it would be you.”

Lin snorted. “I’d say don’t remind me, but with how sore I still am my body definitely hasn’t let me forget.”

They fell into a comfortable silence, both of them watching a sleeping Chen. Ketsana reached out to brush a finger across Chen’s knuckles.

“Can I ask you something?” Lin said softly, her eyes on Chen.

“Of course.”

“You said that motherhood for you is like a river that gets easier to navigate.” Lin lifted her gaze, her eyes watery. “As a single mother, how did you—what did you—“

Lin bit her lip and looked away. Ketsana rushed to throw a comforting arm around her shoulders. “I didn’t want this for her!” Lin said tightly, her voice breaking. “I didn’t want this for my child! That’s why I wasn’t even sure I _wanted_ kids, because I didn’t want them to have a chief for a mother! I didn’t want them to have _me!”_

Ketsana brought Lin close to her side, the metal bender’s body quietly shaking. She rubbed comforting circles on her back, her heart twisting in her chest for her friend. “It’s okay, Lin, cry it out. I’m right here. It’s going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay.”

Lin took a ragged breath. “How?” She sniffed, looking up at her friend with bloodshot eyes. “How can you be so sure—“

“Because I’m doing it, and if I can manage being a single mother, then anyone can,” Ketsana cracked. She let Lin go and took her seat on the footstool. “I kid. Slightly. But more than that, I know you, Lin. Whenever you commit to something, you do it to the best of your ability. I mean, as soon as you found out you were pregnant you not only moved yourself down here, you booked an appointment with me. _Willingly._ ”

The metal bender cracked a smile. “Never thought you’d see the day, huh?”

“Ever.”

Lin snorted. Chen stirred, stretching her legs and sleepily opening her green eyes. Lin smoothed her hair. “Oh, did I wake you up? I’m sorry about that.” She pressed a kiss to Chen’s forehead. The baby reached a chubby hand up, her little fingers clasping onto Lin’s thumb. A laugh bubbled out of Lin. She covered her mouth, and looked up to see Ketsana smiling at her, her eyes crinkling. “What?”

“Nothing, it’s just—“

Lin raised an eyebrow, letting Chen gently gum her finger.

“I know you’re worried about being a good mom. But the thing is? If you’re already thinking about ways you could be better, then you’re already good. And, for what it’s worth, Lin,” she said with a smile, “You’re a really good mom already.”

“You really think?”

“I don’t think, I know. Look at how you look at her, Lin. That alone says everything.”

Lin smiled, her eyes crinkling.

Ketsana returned it, then stood up and headed towards the doorway. “Well, I am going to get going. There’s some tinctures I’ve been meaning to replenish.”

“At this time of night? Ketsana, get some sleep!”

“Lin, I’m a waterbender and it’s almost a full moon. Sleep isn’t going to happen,” she scoffed. “As it is, I wouldn’t be surprised if I found Keodara in there either.”

“Truly a healer in the making.”

“Yeah, she really is. Either that, or very in tune with the moon. Probably both, if we’re being honest.” She nodded her head towards her friend. “You should get some sleep yourself.”

“I will.” She looked down at her daughter, whose eyes were beginning to droop. “I just want to spend some more time with Chen first.”

“Of course.”

Lin didn’t notice Ketsana’s footsteps receding down the hall. She brought a chubby hand to her mouth and kissed it. “Hi sweet cherry blossom. Mama loves you.”

She could have sworn she saw Chen smile.


End file.
